Not that this Eric looks like a bad man, or even an unattractive man. But he is not my precious L.Joe. So, of course, I had to investigate - who the hell is Eric and what has he done with my boys?
First means first, the other tag on the post I first read this on was Shinhwa. What is 'Shinhwa', I wondered. Well, apparently it seems as though there were a little before my time, or at least my arrival onto the utopia that is the k-pop scene. They were a six member boy band that debuted in 1998. Apparently it is Andy, Eric's bandmate, who supervises Teen Top, but unfortunately he is otherwise disposed right now. Hmm, this left me thinking, does anyone else still remember them? What do their songs sound like? We all remember H.O.T, and their banger Candy. They are talked about all the time, and everyone likes having fun with their song, but why not Shinhwa because, let me tell you, they have evidently had some equally fabulous hits!
Let's see the debut video. It is so great. Titled 해결사 in Korean, it is also known as Problem Solver apparently:
Recognise any musical references that were relatively concurrent for the time, they hit at around 2:28? Cypress Hill anyone?? What a surprise that was! Not to mention the all gold shell suits. I was so happy that I had a reason to find this. I'm not really sure at the end - are they meant to be miners? Gold within the mine? I know that I value them at least.
So I wanted to know more about the members. Apparently Andy Lee, one member, was originally meant to be in H.O.T, which kind of makes sense. According to wikipedia his parents prohibited him from entering because he was too young. There is also Shin HyeSung, who originally auditioned in California and had a song on the You're Beautiful soundtrack in 2009. Eric Mun (the man in question) is also from L.A.
And there's Lee MinWoo who tried to have a (third!) comeback with his "M Rizing" project album in 2008, but apparently according even to him it failed. (note the "Brave new sound" at the beginning! So UKISS!) Not sure why, I think I like it. It may even have to have a post another time... Until then, check the comments for the low-down from a true fan.
So, then he came back again (5th time!) in June 2009. Should have been, with the title Minnovation!! Pretty much a mix between Se7en and Rain, so what's wrong with that? I'm going to have to embed it I like it that much:
Tick tick tick, tock tock tock. Still rocking the gold, and now some PVC too.
If I spot him coming back again, then this time I will be ready! Must be in the name, MinWoo.
Anyways, sorry for getting off of the point. There was also Jun Jin who had a bit of a solo career (but the video is a 19+, and not that sexy. Maybe he wasn't the right 'image' for S.Korean TV..?) and was on We Got Married and one half of a pair coined the 'Gundam couple'. Lastly there is Kim DongWan. (He also had a solo comeback but based it on J-Pop sounds, according to my sources. I hardly have a leg to stand on anymore saying that this was not a good move, the J-Pop, and Bunny will call my bluff. But really, I'm not so sure about it. Sounds more like he took a straight route to Balladsville, though apparently it did ok in S.Korea.) Again, you should really check out the comments to get the full effect of his career, and an actually accurate portrayal, from an expert on the subject...
So...seems like they have all been pretty busy, and were all pretty dreamy in their day/still are! Now it appears a few of them are finally catching up on their military service.
Honestly, I have forgotten the point of this post. I think it was just to make a note of Eric, and now look where it took me. A whole new crush on yet another MinWoo. Oh well, at least we know that Teen Top are in good hands, or are they? I will leave you with one more Shinhwa hit. Please enjoy the Tchaikovsky Swan Lake rap cover:
In all seriousness though, the Teen Top Supa Luv/Transform (it is different on different websites) teaser does sound great. They will be back on the 13th, woo. In the meantime, get well soon Daniel.
p.s.
*However, I now have it in good confidence that our initial youtube commenter was in fact correct! And Dongwan really was the first member of a k-pop boy band to use eyeliner, as confirmed by H.O.T and SES. I have so much respect for him.
Also, please visit here for a whole wealth of information on everything Shinhwa. Thank you again, Crystalis.
9 comments:
Don't you just love it when this happens.
One thing leads too another, which leads to another...
It was like reading the real time chain reaction of your brain synapses!!!
Great stuff.
God bless another Minswoon x
I do, I do. Though I wish it wasn't when I have an essay to pen...
Glad it's a stream of consciousness rather than -hot mess-.
Forgot to say though, MinSwoon was the choreographer of Shinhwa too.
y i k e s
After teaser 3 I am so ready for some Teenz on Top (of course it sounds so wrong it must be right)
oh what a glorious post this was! SHINWA a round of applause for you. Is anyone else bothered by how much 1998 does not look like 1998, it looks like 1994 or something?! my memory is clouded. I had noticed people do talk about Shinhwa from time to time, they always had someone in or out the army and it seemed like that happened everyday for about a month in omona once, but I never got this far! to the bangers! to the beautifying violence gritty mv!! excellent research.
I do however have to admit I was no virgin to some Minnovation. I don't know how or why I got there, but i'd been there before and got slightly offput by the large jaw, almost soohyun like that only appears in that video?! its confusing. anyone, he's not my cup of tea but i bet you'd be down with a SHINee cover, MINHOvation..?
Not sure about the kpop/jpop ballad but I watched the whole thing, well done Kim DongWan not sure why i found your generic hot cop stance so appealing but i'm not going to fight it.
ps. EVERYBODY loves CANDY, even B B B BIG BANG!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32SNva48H4g
Me too, me too. I can't wait until late tonight/tomorrow morning. I hope I can sleep!! Teenz on Top is never wrong.
I feel like the 90s are still going on in k-pop so often. And I'm not talking good Onew centre parting headband 90s necessarily. But yes, I certainly agree with you.It is so rare that I can ever bring anything new to the table for you, it makes my day to hear that I have for once. YATTA!
Oh wow, MINHOvation cover, I am *definitely* down with that, thanks. Sorry his jaw is too big. I know you like then chiseled like Se7en, what was I thinking... But you're right, it's just this video. Bad director. Reason for comeback fail three maybe.
I HAD NEVER SEEN BIG BANG 'CANDY'. This literally made my morning, thaaaaaanks.
Hi there :)
Would it be very strange for me to just be commenting as a random passer-by? ^^;
I am a long-time Shinhwa and M (Lee Minwoo) fan with a soft-spot for Teen Top, so I kinda just stumbled on your post. I always can't help, but get a little excited about someone looking into them ^_^ It's like an outlet for me to stan a little while my boys are still in the army. Hope you don't mind and will indulge me :)
I think after a little while into kpop, people begin to discover that all groups are connected to each other in some way or another; Shinhwa maybe a little more lucky than most to span multiple turnovers and generation of kpop idols. Like Teen Top auditioning through Andy's company audition. And Big Bang's Seungri, G.NA, Wonder Girls' Yoobin, After School's Uee, Secret's Hyosung, F(x)'s Krystal, etc. having either participated at the Shinhwa-judged Battle Shinhwa audition, or appeared in Shinhwa's MVs. Or even SS501's Youngsaeng, Wonder Girls' Yeeun, Seeya's Lee Boram, Mblaq's Joon etc. being members of Shinhwa's fanclub, Shinhwa Changjo.
And of course, who doesn't love H.O.T.'s Candy? :) Though my favorite is 'Warrior's Descendant'. As for Shinhwa's music, it looks like their hits that are more popular with the current generation are: 'Perfect Man', 'Wild Eyes', 'T.O.P.' and 'Eusha Eusha'. Some of the currently active groups that I recall having covered them are Teen Top, Suju, SNSD, Shinee, U-kiss, Mblaq, After School.
I think there's a slight misunderstanding about Dongwan's solo albums :) In actuality, he's an award-winning actor, but mostly chooses indie projects and slice-of-life kind of dramas. Anyhow, he did release a best album in Japan recently (and he speaks rather fluent Japanese), but his past Korean albums are actually not really J-pop sounding. I think it's b/c of his interest in J-rock, and b/c he used to part of band in highschool, as well as having re-made GlayXExile's song that it was interpreted that way. And also b/c he likes to cover Japanese songs as fanservice to Japanese fans :) (i.e. Misia's 'Everything', X-Japan's 'Tears', La'cryma Christi's 'Cry Sour Grape', Exile's 'Tada aitakute', Kobukuro's 'Sakura' etc.). As for his own songs, I guess it may appear (b/c of his promo tracks) that he's taking the pure ballad route, but he's really a whatever-takes-his-interest kind of guy and there are tracks like Liar, Loving Summer, and My Love. Even over my other biases, I think his first solo album became my most listened to album of 2007. And Dongwan really was the first member of a kpop boyband to go with eyeliner and contacts (confirmed by two members of SES and HOT ^_^). Another fun fact, Dongwan and Hyori encountered each other on a blind date during high school lolz
Speaking of which, Hyori and Eric were actually the first to popularize super long CFs with Anymotionand Anyclub. One thing does lead to another :)
I know this is already too long, but b/c Minwoo is my favorite member, I'm just going to add a little more >.< 'M Rizing' is Minwoo's 4th full solo album, and he keeps insisting himself that it was a failure. But I suppose compared to his previous albums that landed him top 5 selling album of the year, best dance, and various charted #1s,etc., it really could not compare. But compared in terms of heart (unlike Minnovation, which he probably wrote mostly with public opinion in mind after the less receptive attitude towards M Rizing), M Rizing is really special. He experimented writing and producing songs in genres he had never tried before in his previous albums or his songs for other ppl (i.e. Masquerade, Wonderful Life, Wink Show). You could tell so much time was spent on his music and choreography (he is the kind to hold two 3-hour concerts on the same day *shakes head*). Wish he wouldn't call it a 'failure' :(
As for Hyesung, he is our lead vocalist. His voice will have to speak for itself: MLTR ft. Hyesung - Take Me to your heart He was asked to feature in the song when MLTR heard him at a concert they both attended in Singapore :)
As for Junjin and Andy. It's a bit hard to explain. Maybe this will do.
You've probably wondered five paragraphs ago what this crazy lady is talking about, so I'll end it here (or I'll go on forever) :) Hope it provided some entertainment anyways ^_^
Wooooooooooow! What a comment, or two. Thank you ever so much for taking the time to give me the crash course I evidently needed!!
And, just to say, *anyone* is welcome to comment on anything here at nunas, especially passers by who know a whole lot more on the subject than we do.
But really, wow! So many facts I barely know where to start.
Indeed there are SO MANY links. And after writing the post I realised that Eric was essentially standing in for Andy, or so I read somewhere. How nice of him! And it definitely seems to have helped with their exposure.
As for the Shinhwa hits, I am only just starting... but right now, I'm pretty much loving the first three albums in their entirety, and will get some more soon.
Sorry for the inaccuracies!! Really, thank you. At best it was a summary of some of my favourite facts that I read, so I know I must have missed lots of important details off, like entire acting careers, I'm sorry.
But the tracks of his you linked in replacement are great, thank you. I am going to have to find time to listen to more of him. 'My love' reminds me so much of one of the songs from 'My girlfriend is a Gumiho' in case you saw it.
I just love it when I am proved wrong about balladsville, thank you!
And I love that the youtube commenter was wrong, excellent. To know the route of k-pop men's eyeliner makes me so happy, probably happier than is normal.
You are such a well of knowledge.
And certainly no need to apologise for a longer message as a result of discussing important Minwoo knowledge. Please, he really has a secure place in my heart, just from 'Yo!'. But now, wow.
MRizing was the 4th solo album!! so prolific!! I L<3VE the 'Wonderful Life' performance, what a doll. And 'Wink show' too, it made me tap along even on the first listen. How could this have 'failed'?! HE IS AMAZING! So multi-faceted. What a boy.
I will try to find time for Junjin and Andy when I can put M down for 5 minutes.
Really, thank you ever so for sharing your wealth of knowledge, and sorry again for my mishaps.
I hope your boys come back to you real soon. I will be here to welcome them this time too, arms wide open. Especially M. (I'd like to say great minds think alike).
JJ
x
@JJ
Oh no, thank you~ for putting up with me, and for actually watching the clips too :) And no need to be sorry. I remember being like this too when I first got into kpop. Hope I didn't sound to abrupt, since I was trying to keep my sentences/paragraphs as short as possible ^^:
I really have accumulated a lot of useless facts about kpop over the years, and no excuse to really share them ^^:; With the large amount of old Shinhwa info disappearing off the net over the years, just wanted to clear up some things is all.
And Andy and Eric really have know each other for a long, long time :) Actually, Andy, Eric, Tony (H.O.T.) and Hyesung were already friends before they officially joined SM. And Kangta (H.O.T) was the one who helped Junjin join SM. He's also Hyesung's best friend. Whoops~ Here I go again~
'My Girlfriend is a Gumiho'? The drama with the other MinSwoon~? lolz I remember when he debuted as Rose in Trax. He was so pretty :) For that matter, I also remember when Seunggi first debuted. He was so shy and now he's doing so well. Anyways, were you talking about No Minwoo's 'Trap' when you said one of the OST tracks sounded similar to 'My Love'? I think so too, since it is from the same electronic genre. 'My Love' was actually written by Minwoo and Eric as a gift for Dongwan's first solo album back in 2007 :) I guess it was a bit of a carry over from Minwoo's 3rd album (where he started to experiment with a more electronic sound).
About the eyeliner, I actually came across the same comment before too lolz Although, I was too lazy to correct ^^:
Better go now.
Cheers :)
"crystalis" Thank you so much for your comments, you really know all there is to know about Shinhwa and its always lovely to hear somebody talk so passionately about something, even if its something relatively new to me and Jessica.
I just wanted to ask one question i'm curious about, the "Yo!" MV is kind of hardcore (as in graphic violence) by Korean pop standards, and whilst I personally have no complaints or concerns over a video like this (in fact the opposite), i'm just wondering how the rest of South Korea reacted to it when it came out? was it considered controversial at all??
Anyway, thanks again for your wealth of Shinhwa information, I haven't had much of a chance to investigate them much more but I thought you might like to know that Kim DongWan has somehow managed to stick himself in my consciousness enough to warrant some further study and i'm very pleased with what i'm finding :)
Bunny
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